If These Walls Could Talk: Baltimore Ravens: Stories from the Baltimore Ravens Sideline, Locker Room, and Press Box
256
If These Walls Could Talk: Baltimore Ravens: Stories from the Baltimore Ravens Sideline, Locker Room, and Press Box
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633199415 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Sales rank: | 817,473 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
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CHAPTER 1
Heartbreak and Hope
On March 28, 1984, about a dozen Mayflower moving trucks weathered a snow storm to pick up equipment at the Baltimore Colts training facility in Owings Mills, Maryland. Under the cover of darkness, the Colts — a longtime fixture in the local community — were being whisked away to Indianapolis. Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer and local residents could only watch helplessly as their beloved franchise was taken from them with no recourse from the NFL. It would be 12 years before Baltimore would play another NFL game.
The sight of those Mayflower trucks broke the hearts of Colts fans, who had become disenchanted with the team under the tumultuous ownership of Robert Irsay. As attendance at Colts games dwindled, the embattled owner also openly courted other cities — Phoenix, Memphis, and Jacksonville — as potential landing spots for the franchise. His relationships with Baltimore, local politicians, and the media continued to get worse for Irsay, who reportedly once called the Colts sideline during a regular season game to "suggest" a play for the offense.
Despite the acrimony, no one had expected that Irsay would abruptly wrestle the team away and set up shop 600 miles away in Indiana. It was a heartbreak many people in Baltimore would never get over. For years, thousands of Colts fans flocked to Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street. The stadium became known as the "World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum" because of the fans' passion. Players such as Johnny Unitas, Art Donovan, and Ray Berry became local heroes. Suddenly, the Colts were now gone and there was a void on Sundays — fall afternoons that could not be filled.
Unitas and many other former Baltimore Colts players didn't want to be affiliated with the team when it moved to Indianapolis. It left a deep scar.
"The tradition is in Baltimore," the late Unitas told the Los Angeles Times in 1996 when the Colts were playing the Steelers for the AFC Championship. "There is no reason for any of us who played for Baltimore to be with Indianapolis. They have never invited me there with a personal invitation, but if they had, I would have said, 'Thank you, but no thanks.' The Colts' name belongs in Baltimore, just like the Rams' name belongs in Los Angeles. If the commissioner had any power whatsoever, he would petition the owners to vote in that fashion. ... What I think is important is for Baltimore to have a franchise. It's important for the NFL too. Baltimore was one of the dominating teams in the NFL, one that helped the NFL to gain the prominence that it has."
When the Colts left Baltimore, the NFL assumed that many football fans in Baltimore would simply embrace the Washington Redskins, who played about 40 miles away at RFK Stadium. The league's officials and owners were wrong. Instead of fans supporting the Redskins, a growing disdain evolved against the team in Baltimore because the local community felt the franchise was being forced on them. Baltimore had its own NFL team for too long to simply embrace another franchise, especially in Washington, which had already taken its basketball team, the Bullets. What Baltimore really wanted was its Colts back, but it became increasingly clear that it was not going to happen.
To further add to the indignity, Irsay also took the Colts' colors and history with him to Indianapolis. Those artifacts, the iconic horseshoe, and records would never return. Baltimore later landed a Canadian Football League franchise called the Stallions in 1994. Just one year later, they became the first American team to win the Grey Cup. While the Stallions had a loyal following, the CFL most certainly was not the NFL. The team did, however, manage to fill some of the void while Baltimore worked to land an NFL team.
Over the next decade, Baltimore became a valuable bargaining chip for other NFL owners who wanted new stadium deals in their cities. If their respective cities did not want to help with public financing, the officials in Baltimore were more than happy to help land a new team. This wasn't a veiled threat. Baltimore desperately wanted to be back in the NFL and the financial support was sincere. The Baltimore Colts Marching Band even stayed active with the hope they would have a new team to support and to show other owners that their enthusiasm for the NFL didn't wane. Meanwhile, the state of Maryland did indeed have plans in place for a new stadium if an NFL team was willing to relocate. The Cardinals and Rams each flirted with Baltimore, but nothing ever came to fruition. The hopes for landing an NFL team grew dimmer each passing year, and some paranoia even began to set in.
Baltimore was that shell-shocked by the loss of the Colts, fears began to arise that the Orioles might follow them, perhaps to Washington. As a result, the city was more than happy to build the Orioles a shiny new stadium in downtown Baltimore, just a few miles from the aging Memorial Stadium. This paved the way for the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which became the crown jewel of baseball stadiums and revolutionized architecture. Since then, the Orioles have never been a threat to flee to another city, and they led Major League Baseball in attendance for several years in the 1990s. Today, Camden Yards remains a model stadium that other MLB cities have tried to emulate.
With a stroke of luck, Baltimore's NFL dreams had new life in 1993 when the NFL announced the league would expand by two teams for the first time since 1976. Baltimore had put together one of the strongest proposals of the potential landing of the two spots for the new franchise. Shirts that said Give Baltimore the Ball were ubiquitous around the city. Charlotte, St. Louis, Memphis, and Jacksonville also were bidding for franchises. Baltimore, however, was the only city with three ownership groups vying for the franchise. The city also had all the pieces in place for a new stadium.
On August 27, 1992, 60,021 fans filled Memorial Stadium for a preseason game between the New Orleans Saints and the Miami Dolphins. Fans chanted in unison, "We want a team." The city wanted to show the NFL its interest in getting the expansion team was above and beyond the other competing cities. "Their enthusiasm for football is great and their turnout tonight really shows that," said Roger Goodell, who was then vice president of operations for the NFL.
Nonetheless, the first wave of further disappointment arrived on October 26, 1993, when NFL owners unanimously supported Carolina as the league's 29th NFL franchise. The move made sense geographically, because there was no NFL franchise in the southeast part of the United States from Washington to Tampa Bay. The Carolina Panthers certainly filled a void for the NFL, and there was little surprise they were granted a franchise. A new stadium in Charlotte certainly helped the case for the Carolina Panthers' ownership group headed by Jerry Richardson.
Despite the setback, Baltimore was not totally discouraged, because there was still an opportunity to land the other franchise. The city had a bigger market than Jacksonville, a better stadium deal than Memphis, and did not have any litigation concerns like St. Louis. However, there was already talk about Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke lobbying against a team in Baltimore because of the close proximity to his franchise. The impression was that he wanted to control both markets despite there being little support for his team in Baltimore. This fueled even more backlash against the Redskins. Nonetheless, the ownership groups in Maryland were confident with the proposals and remained optimistic they would land the second expansion franchise.
Everything came to a screeching halt on November 30, 1993. The NFL owners made a surprise move and selected Jacksonville as the league's 30th franchise. Jacksonville had dropped out of the bidding the previous year because the ownership group had trouble negotiating a stadium deal with the city. Those issues were eventually ironed out, but Jacksonville was still widely considered a long shot behind Baltimore and St. Louis to land the expansion franchise. Nonetheless, the owners were confident a team in Jacksonville would further fill the void in the southeastern market of the U.S. "It became clear to the committees that the Southeast has become a tremendous area for expansion," then-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said about the announcement.
The Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars would begin play in 1995. Baltimore was reeling again. One of the potential owners for an expansion team in Baltimore was Malcolm Glazer, who would eventually lead the ownership group in Tampa. His disappointment was clear. "I'm going home and cry," Glazer told the New York Times after hearing the announcement. "I feel very sad. Baltimore has a group of fans you can't find anywhere else in America."
Finally, officials in Baltimore had come to the conclusion that the NFL was not going to give them a team. If the city wanted a franchise, then it would have to use the same tactics as Indianapolis — lure an existing one. It was not an ideal situation, but there was simply no other way. Baltimore found the perfect partner in the Cleveland Browns' Art Modell, an old-school owner with long ties to the league who was having trouble in his adopted city.
Modell had been telling Cleveland officials that the Browns needed a new stadium to not only compete for championships, but to remain fiscally viable. Modell watched the Indians in MLB and the NBA's Cavaliers get shiny new facilities. Cleveland also built the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on the shores of Lake Erie that was a national attraction. The Browns, however, were left out in the cold. The City of Cleveland argued that fans regularly filled the stadium for Browns home games and that was enough to keep the team financially viable. If the franchise was struggling, then it was Modell's own financial ineptness that was the source of the problems. A standoff was inevitable, and it seemed neither side was going to blink.
John Moag was the chairman of Maryland Stadium Authority at the time. That group was founded in 1986 to build, manage, and maintain stadium facilities across Maryland. The Maryland Stadium Authority was desperate to add an NFL facility to its portfolio. Moag saw the dilemma between Modell and the City of Cleveland as an opportunity to land a franchise. Moag and other state officials eventually put together a deal Modell couldn't refuse. If the Browns would relocate, Baltimore agreed to build a $200 million publicly financed stadium that would become one of the best facilities in the entire NFL. The relocated franchise would not have to pay any rent, and it could collect profits from all concessions, parking, and signage. It was a sweetheart deal from a city that was ready to play ball.
In addition, Modell's franchise would annually earn millions of dollars from the sale of luxury suites and club seats. Season ticket sales would also help pay for a new training complex. Not seeing any hope in striking an agreement in Cleveland, Modell decided to make a bold move. A deal to bring the Browns to Baltimore was consummated on October 27, 1995, on a private jet at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Modell had hoped to withhold the news until after the regular season, so his players would not be utterly distracted, and perhaps harassed, by the announcement. However, the rumor mill was already swirling. As a result, a formal press conference was announced at Baltimore's Inner Harbor on November 6, 1995, to make the deal public and official. The Browns were indeed coming to Baltimore, breaking the hearts of thousands of Clevelanders — much like the Colts fans a decade earlier.
Modell was contrite and Maryland state officials, at least most of them, tried to subdue their glee at the press conference. "I know what you went through 11 years ago, because that is exactly what is happening in Cleveland right now," Modell told a crowd of more than 200 people who gathered on the blustery fall day. "I am deeply, deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart."
Being contrite, however, wasn't good enough for the folks in Ohio. Modell was vilified for taking the Browns away. The City of Cleveland filed a lawsuit to keep the team. There was outrage around the country by the national media. How could a venerable franchise like the Cleveland Browns relocate? It almost seemed preposterous. Cleveland, much like Green Bay and Pittsburgh, represented the old guard of the NFL. The backlash was nonstop, but neither Modell nor the City of Baltimore would back down. This was the only way the city would get a team, and it was not going to let go.
Cleveland was not going down without a fight. "We have not been dealt with fairly; we have not been dealt with honestly," Mayor Michael White said at the time. "And we are not going to go away. We have been wronged. I did not come here to go through the motions. We are going to do what it takes. The principle of how we've been treated is worth fighting for." That rallying cry was echoed across northeast Ohio and into other parts of the country.
After much haggling and angst, a compromise was eventually struck. Modell and his franchise would indeed relocate to Baltimore. To help expedite the process, the state of Maryland dropped a $36 million antitrust lawsuit it had filed against the NFL. To help pacify the Redskins, Maryland lawmakers agreed to provide $73 million toward that franchise's proposed facility in Prince George's County — widely regarded as a suburb of Washington. However, the Browns' history and colors would remain in Cleveland. The Browns franchise would also be resurrected and play in a new luxury stadium with the help of the NFL. The new Baltimore franchise would have to create its own identity to begin play for the 1996 season. That was just fine for the people in Maryland who still had some guilt about the relocation of the team. The Browns' name and colors would be a constant reminder of that.
The new team in Baltimore initially wore black and white uniforms for offseason activities. After two months of research, panel discussions, focus groups, and fan polling, the team announced on March 29, 1996, that the franchise would be called the Ravens, taken from the Edgar Allan Poe poem "The Raven," which tells the story of a mysterious bird tormenting a grieving man. A telephone poll by the Baltimore Sun received a record number of calls supporting that name. Poe wrote many of his poems in Baltimore and died in the city on October 7, 1849. He is buried on the grounds of Westminster Hall and Burying Ground, which is part of the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. Even though he was born in Boston, Poe remains one of Baltimore's favorite adopted sons. His macabre nature perfectly fit the gritty city.
"It's a strong nickname that is not common to teams at any level, and it means something historically to this community," said the late David Modell, the son of the owner and the then-assistant to the president.
On June 5, the team announced its colors would be black, purple, and metallic gold. That worked perfectly for the City of Baltimore. The wounds from losing the Colts would sting "nevermore." The NFL was finally back.
CHAPTER 2
Welcome to Baltimore
The Baltimore Ravens opened the regular season to much fanfare on September 1, 1996. Fans flocked to 33rd Street in droves to greet the new franchise in its inaugural game against the Oakland Raiders. Many of the former Baltimore Colts were on hand to participate in pre-game ceremonies, including Johnny Unitas and Art Donovan. The team rewarded the crowd of 64,124 — the largest in Memorial Stadium's 42-year history — with a 19–14 victory. Ravens quarterback Vinny Testaverde scored the team's first touchdown on a nine-yard run that sent the stadium into a frenzy reminiscent of the old Colts days.
This game, however, was not your usual regular season opener. The impact and historical importance of the day was not lost on the Ravens players, many of whom spent a miserable prior season in Cleveland as a lame duck franchise. After the game, Testaverde paid homage to Unitas and the storied football history in Baltimore. "Just knowing that he was here today, a legend with the great years he had in Baltimore, it's just a great beginning for this franchise," Testaverde said after the game. The victory over the Raiders, however, was one of the few highlights of that season.
Playing under former Colts coach Ted Marchibroda, the Ravens went just 4–12. Despite that poor record, Baltimore was mostly competitive, holding a second-half lead in 10 of their final 11 games. The Ravens, however, managed to win just two of those matchups. The defense simply struggled to close out games. Still, many of the local fans were not overly concerned about the team's record in that first season. The city was just happy to have the NFL back on Sunday afternoons.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "If These Walls Could Talk: Baltimore Ravens"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Stan White, Todd Karpovich, and Jeff Seidel.
Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
1. Heartbreak and Hope,
2. Welcome to Baltimore,
3. The Cornerstones of the Franchise,
4. Brian Billick,
5. Harbs,
6. The Steelers,
7. Joe Cool,
8. Crisis Management,
9. Art Modell,
10. Steve Bisciotti,
11. Ed Reed,
12. The Draft,
13. Matt Stover,
14. The 2000 Super Bowl Run,
15. Justin Tucker,
16. Eric Weddle,
17. For the Love of Football,
18. Dennis Pitta,
19. Terrell Suggs,
20. The 2012 Super Bowl Run,
21. Jamal Lewis,
22. The League's Most Fearsome Defense,